Psi-Lords, Vol. 1

Van Lente (The Comic Book Story of Basketball) and Guedes (Superman series) revive the story line of a Valiant mid-list title from the 1990s, streamlining with panache the original into a fast-paced cosmic adventure peppered with action-movie one-liners (“Why can’t we ever meet anybody nice in space?”). Four superpowered humans—Tank, Beacon, Artisan and Hazard—awaken in an alien prison with their memories erased. With help from a Professor X–like telepath calling himself Scion, they escape into a kind of starship graveyard, a swarm of alien spacecraft trapped in orbit around a dying “vampire star.” Immediately thrust into battles between warring alien powers, they’re forced to form a super-team before they can begin to figure out who they are or how they got there. The heroes travel to vibrantly drawn worlds and encounter imaginatively designed alien species, like a race of tiny cat people and a crystal-eating critter. Guedes’ European-influenced art, rather a Heavy Metal look without the cheesecake, tends to an occasionally fussy photorealism that can make action scenes tricky to track. But overall he effectively conveys a space-opera scale. Fans of cosmic superheroes like Green Lantern, Silver Surfer, and the Guardians of the Galaxy will want to hop on this ride through the far reaches of outer space. (Dec.)